Overcoming benchmarking reluctance: a literature review

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify reported barriers to benchmarking and strategies to surmount these barriers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is a qualitative meta‐analysis of 32 peer‐reviewed sources from January 2005‐July 2010. The authors sought recently published authoritative information on the topic of benchmarking reluctance to formulate an up‐to‐date framework explaining this phenomenon. Content analysis was used to identify reasons for benchmarking reluctance and ways to overcome reluctance.

Findings

The study concludes that organizational leadership best practices have been found to counter each of the four major benchmarking reluctance concerns: soundness of benchmarking theory/practices; lack of resources for benchmarking; inertia impeding pursuit of new practices; and specific impacts of implementing new practices.

Practical implications

The findings of this literature review may assist leaders to anticipate potential benchmarking barriers and to follow best practices for addressing these impediments.

Originality/value

Given the limited amount of recent literature focused on the topic of benchmarking reluctance, this paper provides valuable resources to help organizations succeed in their benchmarking efforts.

Citation

Williams, J., Brown, C. and Springer, A. (2012), "Overcoming benchmarking reluctance: a literature review", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 255-276. https://doi.org/10.1108/14635771211224563